Free Republic

Excerpt - MIAMI, United States (AFP) - US prosecutors on Tuesday filed a request to have former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega extradited to France when he is released in September from a Miami prison where he is serving a drug trafficking sentence. Noriega was captured during the US invasion of Panama in 1989 and taken to the United States. That same year a French court sentenced him in absentia to 10 years in jail for money laundering. His Miami lawyer said he would vigorously fight the extradition request. ~ snip ~

Panama's National Assembly is quietly preparing to pass new legislation that would enable the country's former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega to become a free man if he returns to Panama when he is released from a U.S. federal prison in September. Noriega ruled Panama with an iron hand from 1981 to 1989, before he was ousted by a U.S. invasion operation called "Just Cause," ordered by President George H.W. Bush. A year earlier, Noriega had been indicted on federal drug charges in the U.S. In the end, the invasion cost the lives of 23 American troops. The Panamanian death toll...

The defense attorney for Manuel Noriega says the former Panamanian dictator is to be released from a Miami prison in September. Lisa Ferdinando reports from Miami. Noriega has been in U.S. custody since surrendering 17 years ago during the U.S. invasion of Panama. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering. "He has now come to the point where he has served what is known as his mandatory release time, which means the government must release him from custody on September 9th this year," said Frank Rubino, Noriega's attorney. Rubino says good behavior was...

Politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens across much of the world welcomed the electoral rebuke given President Bush's Republican Party and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday. Against the broad mood of satisfaction, however, there were voices of concern that a power split between Democrats and Republicans in Washington might mean uncertainty in crucial areas like global trade talks. On Iraq, some worried that Democrats could force a too-rapid retreat, leaving the country and the region in chaos. Others said they doubted the congressional turnover would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely...

Latin America: Oil earnings have given Hugo Chavez a colossal sense of his own power at home and abroad. He's not limiting himself to small countries like Bolivia, though. Surprise: The U.S. is also in his cross hairs. Venezuela's president has targeted America and not just by organizing political fifth columns called "Bolivarian Circles" ... He's also getting himself good press for delivering discounted oil for his handpicked "poor" ... Chavez has won plaudits from the mainstream media for his newly launched program to deliver cheap heating oil to carefully "screened" low-income constituencies. Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, through its...

CHICAGO -- Supporters of two Chicago activists sentenced to prison for disobeying a judge's order while protesting at a Georgia Army base came out to give the pair a send-off. Supporters gathered at Montrose Beach on Tuesday as two activists, Ron Durham and Liz Deligio, prepared to go to prison to serve three-month jail terms, NBC5's Mary Ann Ahern reported. Durham and Deligio were sentenced for their part in protesting at the School for the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga. A judge's order had prohibited protestors from walking on to the Army base. Activists Receive Send-Off "They want to intimidate...

The girl of the Noriega General named with the consulate from Panama in Miami PANAMA - One of the girls of the former strong man of Panama, the Manual General Noriega, was named as diplomat with the consulate from Panama in Miami, announced the minister panaméen Foreign Affairs Samuel Lewis. His/her father is imprisoned there since 1990. Sandra Noriega "is a qualified person who has the right to serve her country", affirmed Friday the minister. The father of the diplomat directed Panama of 1981 to 1989, after death in an air crash of the president panaméen Omar Torrijos, father...

There is much talk of post-election reorganization and rethinking among demoralized liberals, especially in matters of foreign policy. They could start by accepting that the demise of many of their cherished beliefs and institutions was not the fault of others. More often, the problems are fundamental flaws in their own thinking — such as the ends of good intentions justifying the means of expediency and untruth, and forced equality being a higher moral good than individual liberty and freedom. Whether we call such notions “political correctness” or “progressivism,” the practice of privileging race, class, and gender over basic ethical considerations...

...On Monday, a Foggy Bottom spokesman declared that, "In order to address those charges of election fraud, an audit was conducted. The audit found that -- did not find any basis to call into doubt the results of the elections." ...On referendum day, there was no open audit at the polling stations ... no closed-door audit with ... Council members present ... no inspection of the electronic voting machines immediately after ... no impartial impounding of the election data.... The European Union refused to send observers because Mr. Chavez so severely limited the size of the team and its ability...

The myth that A Q Khan’s proliferation activities were conducted without the knowledge of the Pakistani army chiefs and prime ministers and further that the US administration was fully satisfied with this explanation stands demolished. Consider the following. One, in an interview to the Far Eastern Economic Review US deputy secretary Wolfowitz indicates there was a deal between the US and Pakistan for the cover-up. Two, according to Khan’s friends, General Zia-ul Haq directed him to respond to the 1987 Iranian overtures for nuclear technology but told him not to go too far. Three, two former assistant secretaries of state...

PANAMA CITY, Panama - These are the only two things known for certain about a wayward shipment of 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles that has created an uproar in at least three countries: (1) The shipment left Nicaragua on Nov. 2 aboard the 200-foot, Panama-flagged tramp steamer Otterloo. (2) It was bound for the Panamanian police. Everything else about the shipment remains a mystery. But the 173-ton arsenal, bought from the Nicaraguan police in a deal that seemed so clean Managua officials had notified the U.S. Embassy, evolved into one of the largest and most daring arms smuggling capers in the...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...